-Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 3,2001
214
Forward Pricing Critical
(Continued from Page 5)
“It’s the way we have to
farm now,” she said.
“There’s no other choice.”
A quarter of a century ago,
the Rissers saw a good oppor
tunity in shelled corn, and
soon took on soybeans and
wheat. Twenty-five years
ago, Ann noted, ear corn was
taken in and shelled on the
site.
But since, through mergers
and consolidations, the grain
pickup and delivery industry
in the Northeast has been
shrinking. Export buyers are
drying up.
These were the prices at the farm Dec. 5 of last
year. They’re posted right in the Risser Grain office.
Landis Bros., Inc.
0 Route 283 & Route 772 30 Evergreen Road
Lancaster, PA Lebanon, PA
717-653-2340 717-228-2650
Yet large operators con
tinue to supply the steady
grain market in the region.
Brent noted that northern
Maryland, including Harford
and Baltimore County*, lias
operators growing grain at
4,000-5,000 acres apiece.
Stewartstown in southern
York County is composed of
almost entire grain farms,
with few dairies left in the
county, he noted.
The entire Risser en
terprise employs 10 full-time.
There are four full-time
owner/operators, and addi
tional hires take place in de-
livery season after harvest.
“This year, anyone who
called could get work,” Ann
said.
The Bloomsburg facility,
Mainville Grain, sits on five
acres with a 250,000- bushel
capacity. Purchased in 1996,
the facility accepts shelled
JOHN DEERE
726 MULCH FINISHER
V y
John Deere
HNE-FIIISHES SEEDBEDS
>■ The 726 preps fields for
planting by leveling
seedbeds and
incorporating chemicals.
>■ Disk gang height is
adjustable from even
with to 8 inches above > Nine sizes> rigid and
the sweeps. folding, from 12-feet 9-
inches to 38-feet 9-
>■ Heavy-duty C-shank
standards maintain
depth; rigid scrapers on
■ IN STOGKs ,
JSIr xSf%j w-MxMfyMi ~ x
Demo Unit ‘
corn, wheat,
barley.
Another facility, Red Lion
Grain Center, has a 650,000-
bushel capacity. At harvest, it
unloads about 120 trucks a
day.
The Red Lion site, estab
lished in 1997, is also home to
The pile of corn at Risser Grain in mid-November.
122 to Ifo HP Requirement
a custom formula fertilizer
and corn, wheat, barley, al
falfa, and pasture seed busi
ness.
beans,
and
Overall for the business,
busiest time of year is mid-
September to mid-December,
noted Ann. “There is no slow
the disk gang prevent
soil buildup.
>■ Set and maintain depth
with easy crank-adjust
single-point depth
control.
inches
v: tt*
(Turn to Page 7)
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